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Mallinder backing Foden

Northampton Saints Director of Rugby Jim Mallinder is backing Ben Foden to continue his fine form in the Aviva Premiership.

The England full-back ran in two tries during the Saints' comprehensive 42-16 win over Newcastle over the weekend.

Foden missed the World Cup due to a knee injury that required surgery. However, the 30-year-old has recovered and returned to fitness. Mallinder believes Foden is just a few games away from finding top form.

"We know Ben Foden is a good player," Mallinder said after the game.

"He needs games to get back to full fitness and he just getting a little bit of a run of games again.

"He was playing well when he got injured last season. Fingers crossed we can keep him fit. He had an excellent game even in the first half when we were under the cosh – he was doing well, catching his own kicks, he looked sharp."

In terms of the victory, Mallinder was happy to return to winning ways and he enjoyed the return of his England players from the World Cup squad.

"We were really disappointed with last week, but we regrouped this week and managed to get a bonus-point win," he added.

"We are back on track but now we need to back this win up. We have loads to work on…we know we weren't perfect at all.

"We were really pleased to get the England boys back – they made a big difference. They are quality players. Sometimes it is not easy fitting straight back into the system, but, particularly in the second half, we saw the team gelling and playing as we want them to."